The apple doesn’t fall far from the cocktail this autumn.
Big Apple bars are ripe with the crisp fruit — whether served as hard cider, the fermented drink sold on tap and in bottles, or in cocktails mixed with farm-fresh juice from nearby orchards.
Though hard cider is only about .5% of the beer market and is unknown to many drinkers, it’s becoming a lot more popular at pubs and restaurants, according to Angry Orchard cider maker David Sipes. And in the first quarter of 2013, cider sales soared by 70%, according to GuestMetrics, a company that collects data on the hospitality industry.
One reason that cider’s gained so much juice is that, unlike most beer, it is gluten free, says Matthew Critz of Harvest Moon Cidery, which grows apples in Cazenovia, N.Y., and makes several varieties of hard cider.
The majority of cider fans who visit the tasting room at Harvest Moon are in their 20s and 30s, and many have studied abroad and became fans of hard apple cider in Europe, where it’s far more popular than here.
Baby boomers can be a tougher sell, many remembering the syrupy sweet taste of Boone’s Farm Apple Wine, which was popular in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
“Boone’s Farm did more to hurt cider in America than anything else,” Critz says, laughing. “But once they try it they realize cider can be complex, like a wine is complex.”
Here are some area bars making the most of fall’s favorite fruit.
Vienna Morning, Seasonal Restaurant & Weinbar
132 W. 58th St., (212) 957-5550
Sugar and spice fuel the flavor of the Vienna Morning Cocktail ($14) at Seasonal Restaurant & Weinbar, an Austrian eatery in midtown. The Vienna Morning is made with Zubrowka Bison Grass Vodka — a dry herb-flavored vodka distilled from rye — spiced apple cider and St. Germain sweet elderflower liqueur, topped with Prosecco and garnished with a caramelized apple slice.
“It’s a perfect transition cocktail from summer to fall because the bison grass vodka combines light vanilla and coconut flavors that remind you of summer with the rich cinnamon in the spiced apple cider for fall,” says Seasonal’s mixologist Kasia Krupinska, noting that the spiced apple cider adds a thicker texture that blends better than apple juice.
Krupinska recommends pairing the cocktail with Seasonal’s Schweinebauch appetizer, a pork belly dish with asparagus, egg yolk and mushroom, to allow the smoky flavor of the pork to marry the sweetness of the spiced apple cider.
White Whisky Pear Chai, Sorella
95 Allen St., (212) 274-9595
At Sorella, a chic Italian small-plates restaurant on the lower East Side, co-owner and beverage director Sarah Krathen adds a spice of life to her white whisky-based cider cocktail ($13).
To craft the house-made cider, Krathen uses sliced pears handpicked from the Union Square Greenmarket and douses them in cinnamon, cardamom, clove, ginger and sugar before heating them over the stove to caramelize. Once the pears are soft enough, she blends them with white whisky over ice and adds a dry Perucchi vermouth from Spain. It’s garnished with a pear chip.
“We wanted to do a play on a cider, but not a traditional hard apple cider,” says Krathen. She suggests pairing the White Whiskey Pear Chai with Sorella’s agnolotti ravioli, filled with celery root puree, and served with braised oxtail and sage brown butter. “[The drink has] the warm spices and it’s nice on a cold night.”
Polleno, Henry, a Liquor Bar
356 W. 58th St., (212) 554-6217
At this new cocktail bar in the Hudson Hotel, the drink list was created by Ryan Chetiyawardana, a pioneering mixologist in London who was taken with the seasonal produce when he’d visit New York. In the Polleno cocktail ($16), he has combined the flavors of tart green apples with sweeter red ones. The red apples are cooked sous-vide (in airtight plastic bags at a low temperature) before they’re juiced.
“We wanted them to taste like they were sitting in sunshine on a very hot day,” Chetiyawardana says. “Gently warming them up brings some of the sweetness to the front.”
The juices are then combined with dry sherry and some egg white to bind the cocktail together.
Get it while you can — this bright apple drink will stay on the menu for a while, but then transition to a bolder drink as the weather gets colder.
Cidra a Ron, Burning Waters Cantina
116 Macdougal St., (646) 707-0078
This brand-new Greenwich Village bar in the underground space that was the original Gaslight Cafe, where Bob Dylan performed and Allen Ginsberg read poetry, has been reborn as an old-school style Latin American cantina.
Owner Esteban Ordonez is mixing up Cidra a Ron ($13) with Caliche rum from Puerto Rico, fresh unfiltered apple cider and Laird’s apple brandy. If you want it cold, he serves it over crushed ice and garnished with a cinnamon stick. But if you want more of a show, order it hot. Ordonez ignites the brandy and rum in a saucepan and grates cinnamon into it, creating sparks. The drink is then served warm in a piece of vintage glassware from Ordonez’s extensive collection.
Spiced Pumpkin Cider, Distilled
211 West Broadway, (212) 601-9514
Bartender Micaela Piccolo created this cocktail in honor of her grandparents. Her grandfather believes the best thing about fall is apple cider, and her grandmother loves pumpkin spice. This hot drink ($14) is made with pumpkin puree, apple cider, pumpkin spice and Brugal 1888 rum — an aged rum with notes of vanilla and spices like ginger and cinnamon that pair well with a fall-themed cocktail. Beverage director Benjamin Wood explains that the drink, topped with whipped cream and grated nutmeg, is served in a mug with the iconic “I Love NY” logo because the restaurant’s focus is American food that highlights regional cuisine.
Garson Means Boy, Evelyn Drinkery
171 Avenue C, no phone
Mixing Bombay Sapphire gin with apple cider works better than you might think. That’s because the botanicals in gin — like anise, cassia bark and lemon peel — play well off apple cider, according to Christian Sanders, the co-owner of Evelyn Drinkery in the East Village. For a Garson Means Boy ($7 for small, $11 for large) he combines chamomile-infused gin with apple cider, Drambuie, a Scotch-based liqueur, cinnamon syrup and bitters. In the style of an old-school soda counter, Sanders then adds a touch of phosphate and charges the drink in a seltzer maker.
“The result is superlight and effervescent with the flavors popping everywhere,” Sanders says.
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Flavored spirits and ready-made regular and hard cider make it easy to create apple-based cocktails at home. Here are two simple recipes that even the beginning bartender can master.
The Nutty Orchard
1 part Pinnacle Pecan Pie Vodka
2 parts apple cider
Build over ice on a highball glass. Garnish with lemon wedge squeezed and dropped in.
Big Apple Fashioned
Haley Jenson, a mixologist at Taproom 307 in midtown east, created this take on an Old Fashioned to use with Angry Orchard’s Crisp Apple Cider.
2 orange slices
2 brandied cherries (fresh or maraschino also works)
1/2 ounce honey
1 ounce bourbon
1/2 ounce sweet vermouth
3 ounces crisp apple cider
Muddle cherries and oranges in honey in a glass. Fill glass with ice. Add bourbon and sweet vermouth. Fill glass with cider. Pour ingredients into mixing cup and back into the highball glass to combine.
